Nothing but good news…

The 'Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica' expedition has been in the pink this week, with a number of happy events to celebrate...

Last week, we left the expedition scientists while they were involved in their endeavours to deep drill at the location where they had stopped. By 20th December, it was in the bag: the drilling engineers had achieved a depth of 90 metres, albeit after a few setbacks. Which is something of a record considering that the expedition does not really have all the equipment it needs to drill so deep. Reason number one to be happy.

That same day, the expedition also learnt via the satellite that one of their members, Einar Johansen, a mechanical engineer by trade and a highly experienced polar traveller, had been elected 'Employee of the Year' by the Norwegian Polar Institute. It has to be said that this year, Einar celebrates his 7th white Christmas out of 8 years of good and loyal service in the Antarctic.

The third reason to celebrate came on 22nd December, when the expedition came across the remains of the 'Plateau Station' base that was built by the Americans in 1966 and closed three years later. Most of the buildings are now buried beneath the snow, of course, but the weather tower was still standing above the icecap, as were 5 smaller towers.

Even though the base has sunk into the surrounding snow over the years, the expedition members were still able to make their way inside and explore the premises of the former station. It was a major moment for the expedition and a great opportunity to go behind the scenes of polar history.

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